What are ya, afraid of clowns? Well then, you better… TURN BACK NOW!
I’ll tell ya, I have some kind of sick and twisted affection for Pennywise from Stephen King’s IT because I cannot seem to get enough went it comes to merchandise made in his form. As an action figure collector, NECA has done a pretty amazing job of keeping me covered over the past few years, both with the classic 1990 miniseries version, and the recent movie take on the Dancing Clown. I do love both versions for a variety of reasons, but my first love (i.e. creeped the eff out) falls with Tum Curry’s unforgettable take so I have an especially weak will when it comes to needing just about everything related to that.
As I said, NECA has turned out two pretty fantastic figures via their Ultimate Reel Toys banner, but now they have taken things in a bit of a different direction with this new Pennywise created in their 8-inch, cloth clothing line. If you are not familiar with it, it harkens back to the MEGO lines of the 1970s, but with modern care and quality. Many of the lines that NECA bakes into this execution are often “nostalgia” properties like The Karate Kid, Golden Girls, and Bill and Ted, but their horror licenses have found their way in from time to time as well. I knew I was going to get this figure from the moment I learned it would be coming out, but I have to say, I am very pleasantly surprised by how much I like everything about it.
For what was originally going to be a novel piece in my collection, Pennywise, and specifically, this version of Pennywise, lends itself to this style amazing well. The loose-fitting costume makes use of the effective qualities of using real cloth, but also minimizes some of its shortcomings, especially at this scale. Where I generally find faults in things like stitching and folds being out of scale when fabric is used on action figures, the bagginess of the costume, especially in the sleeves and pant legs, reduces distraction and actually adds to the overall effect of the costume being far too large for Tim Curry’s frame in the original series. But don’t let that take away from the care put into the fabric pieces, they are very well done, in my opinion. Sure, we are not talking about the same level as would be expected from other lines that often go north of $100.00 per figure, but for the value you get here, the work is quite nice.
There are varying textures between the different pieces, and there are some complicated sewing and patterns in spots where the outfit is its most outlandish. The collar is a separate piece, but made of different fabrics bunched tightly together and sewn so they stay in good form to match the source. The vest has always been the most gaudy piece of the outfit and where impressive paint applications recreated it in the Ultimate editions, this fabric has been scaled down and recreated quite successfully here. The fittings are good though and allow the sculpted pieces to integrate with the costume well, so swapping out the heads and hands is no issue.
Speaking of the sculpted pieces, these come with the quality and detail you have come to expect from any NECA line. There are two heads, two sets of hands, and an additional hand that holds the famous balloon, so while there are not as many pieces as say, the the Ultimate figures, you still get everything you need to capture the iconography of the character. The included heads feature a happy/laughing visage, and one scary as f#$%/about to go full demon head. No matter your preference, both are extremely strong and work in this format, so I am having a tough time deciding which one I want to ultimately display. I love the expression on both and they capture Tim Curry’s likeness very well. I have several of the NECA figures in this format and I have to say that I think this is the best sculpted work done yet in this line.
You also get the standard white glove hands as well as the demonic hands that were made famous by the movie poster and promotional art. I tend to skew more towards the basic white gloves because what made that original screen Pennywise so damned frightening was the acting work done by Curry, as as weird as it sounds, having the monster hands actually takes away the creep factor a bit for me. This time around you get a single orange balloon that is affixed (from what I can can tell) to the extra included hand. I like the choice to go with orange here, and I am not really sure why to tell you the truth. Red is most iconic, and the “Turn Back Now” balloon was yellow, so those seemed like they would be the most obvious choice to go with here. So, the orange is unexpected for me, but I really like the decision to go in this direction and adds even more uniqueness to this figure that is kind of already doing its own thing compared to the other Pennywise figures I have on the shelf.
Okay, now don’t mistake me, I LOVE my Ultimate Pennywise figures, especially that second edition, but there is something about this figure that really appeals to me. The cloth costume works so well with this version of the character, and the sculpted portraits are so strong, it just has everything going for it. There is some kind of strange beauty in the simplicity of it all that makes it so effective, so I am sold. This guy is going to be creeping on everyone from Bob Ross, to the Golden Girls, to Chunk, and the guys from Kobra Kai, so he will fit in quite nicely with this collection that seems to be getting bigger by the month. So, if you haven’t gotten a Pennywise figure yet, or need a new entrant to your shelf, give this one a try and pick it up from Dorkside now, you won’t regret it.
*Thanks to the cool guys at NECA for sending this figure along for an early look, we appreciate it.
